Florida beaches are being left awash with the rotting corpses of dolphins, sharks and turtles brought to shore by the notorious Red Tide. The gruesome phenomenon of rotting marine life stretching along 150-miles of sun-kissed Gulf Coast sands are the ghastly result of a deadly toxic bloom floating on the waves.

Microscopic karenia bravis cells create a ghastly panorama when they burst into life, turning the seas blood red and spelling doom for marine creatures great and small throughout infected coastal waters, coves and inlets.

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A 26-foot long whale shark as well as 266 marine turtles have also died, washing ashore alongside tons of rotting fish.

Florida’s iconic manatee – the docile marine mammals that gave rise to the mermaid legend – are also being killed at the rate of 10 a day, a devastating death toll for a creature classified as Vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species.

For all its horrific effects, the Red Tide is not a new phenomenon.

Early settlers to Florida witnessed its terrible impacts back in the 1700s, with outbreaks remaining as cyclical as the regular tides that wash the shores.

The notorious Red Tide has killed hundreds of fish in Florida (Image: GETTY)

What has seen this current algal bloom causing such carnage is its longevity.

Richard Stumpf, an oceanographer who studies Red Tides for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said: “It's a bad bloom by any standard."

It remains to be seen whether a single year of altered wind patterns will turn out to be an isolated deviation or part of more long-term changes in climate, he cautions.

Previous Red Tides have been even more catastrophic than this year’s bloom. Between June 1987 and May 1988 there were 740 bottlenose dolphin strandings along the US Atlantic coast, many dying, and with 93 per cent testing positive for algal toxins.

Florida governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency (Image: GETTY)

While we fight to learn more about this naturally-occurring phenomenon, we will continue to deploy all state resources and do everything possible to make sure that Gulf Coast residents are safe and area businesses can recover.

Florida governor Rick Scott

The spectre of such events and the feared impact on businesses and families dependent on the seas for their livelihoods this week saw Florida governor Rick Scott declare a state of emergency, with the pledge of more than $1.5 million towards research, beach-cleaning and support for communities.

He said: “While we fight to learn more about this naturally-occurring phenomenon, we will continue to deploy all state resources and do everything possible to make sure that Gulf Coast residents are safe and area businesses can recover."

Research funding was welcomed by Michael Crosby, president and chief executive of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota.

Hopes of tackling future Red Tides are heightening with scientists field-testing a process that can pump red-algae tainted seawater into an ozone-treatment system that pumps purified water into affected coves and inlets.

Scientists also are studying the possible use of naturally produced compounds from seaweed, parasitic algae and filter-feeding organisms that could be introduced to fight red tides.